Some major changes in China squad. 4 players with 0 caps 3 players with 1 cap 1 player with 2 caps 1 player with 3 caps ... 13 players in total under 10 caps. I wonder if Li Ying coming out the other day had something to with this...
I did have to come back and update with Robertson's correct birthdate but it only changed by a smidge: New Zealand: Average age: 26.75 or 26 years and 274 days (oldest: Riley, 33; youngest: Rennie, 20) Surprisingly, I had all of the birthdates that I was unsure of on Zambia's roster spot on.
China: Average age: 26.33 or 26 years and 122 days (oldest: Ding Xuan, 32; youngest: Jin Kun, 21) Olympic newbies: 18 (Zhu Yu, Li Mengwen, Lin Yuping, Li Qingtong, Zhang Xin, Wang Yan, Miao Siwen, Wang Yanwen, Peng Shimeng, Yang Lina, Liu Jing, Wang Xiaoxue, Luo Guiping, Warigumula, Wang Ying, Xiao Yuyi, Jin Kun, Ding Xuan) # not on the 2019 WWC roster: 14 (Zhu Yu, Li Mengwen, Li Qingtong, Zhang Xin, Miao Siwen, Wang Yanwen, Yang Lina, Liu Jing, Yang Man, Wang Xiaoxue, Warigumula, Xiao Yuyi, Jin Kun, Ding Xuan)
Updated teams, from oldest to youngest: 1. USA: 30.18 2. Brazil: 29.15 3. Sweden: 27.92 4. Canada: 27.54 5. Netherlands: 27.31 6. Great Britain: 27.14 7. Chile: 27.0 8. Australia: 26.99 9. New Zealand: 26.75 10. China: 26.33 11. Japan: 25.11 12. Zambia: 22.98 I may come back this weekend and do some double checking now that we have official squad lists, but otherwise unless there are any last minute changes, this is it.
At least one member of China's 2019 World Cup Goon Squad is included in the roster, Shanshan Wang, who committed various sorts of criminal offenses at the last World Cup, including breaking Dzsenifer Maroszan's toe in a group stage match.
I just saw that Formiga is the FIRST Olympic athlete, male or female, to go to 7 Olympics in a team sport. Only 31 athletes total, so far, have gone to 7 or more Olympics: Since 1896, only 31 athletes have competed in seven or more Olympics, and none have ever achieved it in a team sport. This week, Brazil's Formiga will become football's first-ever seven-time Olympian. Find out more about her in my article for @ForbesSports https://t.co/IwlzYGyGEB pic.twitter.com/V6sFIcPcYj— Asif Burhan (@AsifBurhan) July 19, 2021
So, besides 3 of 4 of the semifinalists coming from Group G, I thought this was the best place to point out that 3 of 4 of the oldest teams in the tournament advanced to the semis (US, Sweden, Canada).
Yes, I had noticed that already on the Nadeshiko Japan thread, wondering if, given the results, cutting most of the veterans and bringing the youngest NT at this tournament after Zambia had really been a wise move. Japan and USA played the WWC finals in 2011 and 2015: USA brought to these Olympics 4 players that were in 2011's final (Lloyd, Morgan, Rapinoe, Heath), Japan half of that, only 2 (Kumagai, Iwabuchi), having unreasonably cut Sameshima just before the tournament, thus leaving a big hole (unsolvable with the current generation) at the Left Full-Back position.